Monday, April 11, 2011

Springing out of Winter

I have seen quite a few pumps come in that were stored for a while.  These pumps come in “not priming” or “no pressure”.  If your pump has been stored for some time (over a month), you should first try the pump out with water.  That way, if it doesn’t work right, you don’t have a pump full of paint that won’t function.  If a pump comes in with any material in it, we charge a “Haz Mat” fee.

If your pump primes but won’t build up pressure, it may have something clogging up the valve inside the fluid section.  I would prime and run Lacquer Thinner through the pump.  LT will break up and dissolve most paints, over time.  If your problem is a small bit of paint holding the piston valve open, it may break it loose.

The best solution for this is to store your pumps dry.  Clean them out as per our instructions, then disconnect the hose and run the pump just long enough to pump out all of the liquid, then shut off immediately.  My customers that do this regularly, do not have any problems with pump storage.

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